


(Most Definitely Not) Time Travel

by Ferafish



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Don't touch weird things on altars, Gen, How do you end things?, Time Travel, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11992494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferafish/pseuds/Ferafish
Summary: When Anastasia Trevelyan touches a mirror on an altar near Kirkwall, she should've expected 'weird shit' to happen.





	(Most Definitely Not) Time Travel

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the writing prompts over at the [Dragon Age subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/6xlzmu/spoilers_alloc_time_to_be_storytellers_the_dragon/dmj5efr/)

Trev wishes she could say she had more sense than to touch the strange object on the strange altar in the strange ruins. She really does. But to say so would be a lie, and directly contradicted by the circumstances she currently found herself in.

 

Those circumstances being watching her companions horrified faces fade, looking ghost-like before finally fading out of sight.

 

To borrow a friends words - Well, shit.

 

She should've known better than to trust anything anywhere near Kirkwall. The damned place was crawling with hornet's nests just waiting for someone to breathe wrong.

 

Even if she hadn't just watched three people vanish before her eyes, the walk out of the ruins would have told her things were very... odd. A section wall she was certain Bull had broken down was still standing. A lock she knew Varric had picked was firmly locked. And to top it all off, the layer of dust and grime they had all disturbed on the way in was intact, looking like no one had been there in years.

 

Creepy.

 

Trev had heard of the possibility of time magic. Had somewhat experienced it in Redcliffe, with the rifts that sped up and slowed down the passage of time. But this felt different. It felt... more.

 

A shudder passed through her. Best not to think about it.

 

Exiting the ruins, she found no trace of her entourage. None of their horses, nor any of their supplies. Not even a trace that they had ever been there.

 

Trev ignored the tree near the entrance, that was most definitely much taller when they had arrived.

 

With few other choices, she turned to head to Kirkwall. Judging by the sun's position (much higher in the sky than she expected, given where it was when they entered), she should be able to make it there by nightfall. With the coin on her, she could get a room for the night, and try and send out word.

 

(She didn't think too hard about where she'd send word to. That was a problem for later.)

 

Her estimates were correct, and she found herself cresting a hill to see Kirkwall shortly before sunset, as expected. She hadn't expected it to be on fire.

 

She rushed down the hill to find the gate hanging open, with terrified people stumbling out of it. Words like 'Ox-men' and 'Qunari' were being spit with both venom and fear. She also passed ~~Warden Stroud~~ a man who looked eerily similar to Warden Stroud, leading a band of Grey Wardens from the city.

 

Pulling her helm on, she strode into the city. There was no way she could leave these people like this, not when she could help.

 

Aside from the odd straggler, the streets were oddly quiet. It seemed others had already carved a bloody swathe through Kirkwall. The looters were still out, though. Only a few made the mistake of trying to take her things, however.

By the time she reached the Keep, the nagging feeling about what was happening - or had happened, she supposed - had grown from a gentle nudge in the back of her head to alarm bells going off. Or, she supposed, it could’ve been the actual alarm bells ringing through the city.

 

She entered the throne room in time to dodge a fireball. Following it’s path back to it’s source, she saw an impossible sight.

 

(Or, it would’ve seemed impossible, had the last several hours not occurred.)

 

A terrified man, ( ~~Hawke~~ _Not. Hawke._ ), running from a Qunari. Every so often ~~Hawke~~ _Not Hawke_ turned, throwing a fire ball or spike of ice at the Qunari ( _Not the Arishok._ ). As the man dodged a blow from the Qunari, he stepped awkwardly, missing the sword but falling to the ground. Rushing forward to help, she was knocked to the ground by a hard blow from one of the Qunari that had been standing by the door. A loud crack sounded.

 

Reaching into her bag, she found a mirror, the same one that had been sitting on the Altar, now with a spiderweb of cracks spreading from the center. She looked up at her fading surroundings in time to see the man’s staff come up, bladed end catching the advancing Qunari in the gut.

 

Between one blink and the next, the Viscount’s Keep was replaced by ruins. The man and the Qunari replaced by another man and Qunari.

 

The look of concern on their faces grew more distressed as her knees gave out from under her.

 

“Trev!” called out the Qunari ( ~~Arishock~~ _The Iron Bull_ ) as he rushed forward. One arm wrapped around her as the other grabbed her hand. “Are you alright? Trev? Ana!?”

 

“I’m fine,” she choked out, trying to push herself to her feet. Her unsteady knees refused to cooperate.

 

“Is that blood? How in the Void did you manage to get yourself covered in blood between one moment and the next. Honestly, people give me odd looks for telling you not to kill anything without me. Then you do things like this,” the man ( ~~Not Hawke~~ _Dorian_ ) fretted.

 

“I’m fine,” she repeated. She tried to stand again, this time more successfully.

 

“Maybe we should head back to camp, boss,” Bull said, a guiding hand still on her arm and back.

 

“Perhaps we should,” she said. “It’s been a long day.” No one commented that it was still well before noon. Nor did she comment on the tree that had been ~~shorter~~ _the same size_ last time she had passed it.


End file.
